Family Business & Transition
Most businesses don't start with a Transition in mind.
If you run a family business, at some point there is going to be a Transition. This Transition includes not only the eventual ownership of the business, but perhaps more importantly, the transition of day-to-day management of the business.
The questions are when will that Transition take place and who will the business be Transitioned to? If you don’t have answers to one or both of those questions, don’t worry you’re not alone.
We specialize in helping families through these often uncomfortable discussions to reach conclusions that make sense for the entire family.
Family Business & Transition
Sometimes Mom & Dad feel like we have plenty of time to get to all of this Transition stuff. But that’s not always the case.
We think you’ll enjoy Lisa Holly of Berea Moving and Storage share some of her unplanned Transition after the tragic passing of her mother where the next day the keys to the business were tossed to her and her brother Woody.
Lisa talks about how she went from being an employee to an employer and some of the challenges she was immediately faced with and how she overcame them with MVP’s help.
On the flip side, you can listen to Brian Maurer's story of growing up in the family business and eventually taking it over from his parents while also navigating some choppy waters while working with his brother.
Service Offerings
If you’ve been successful enough to date to even consider a potential business transition, you’ve made it further than two-thirds of the other businesses who never make it to a second generation. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy or won’t ruffle some feathers, including yours.
That’s because families often are more comfortable bringing up uncomfortable
conversations than your team members who aren’t family. In our years of helping family
businesses transition from one generation to the next, we have identified some of the most common challenges highlighted below.
Does the current owner want to leave? If no, what will their role be going forward? If yes, what will they do next? Some common refrains like travel, hobbies, grandkids, and volunteering might sound really nice, but if you haven’t done many of these things in the past what makes you think you’re going to enjoy doing them full-time now. What about starting another business or a non-profit?
It’s helpful to appreciate you don't know what you don’t know. This becomes more apparent the more experience each of us gains. That is, the more you learn, the more you discover you don’t know. If the only thing the current and/or potential new owner knows when it comes to business is working in the current business, it can be difficult to figure out what to do next.
One of our favorite movie characters is Sean Connery playing Officer Jim Malone in the 1987 classic The Untouchables. One of his famous quotes to Kevin Costner’s character Elliott Ness is he asks him, “What are you prepared to do?” when it comes to putting Al Capone behind bars. You should be asking yourself the same question when it comes to Transitioning your business. Maybe you can ask it a different way, “What are you unwilling to do?” This is where the “sacred cows” are typically located. They typically include things like People, Customers, Vendors, or Products/Services you aren’t willing to change or part ways with. These can often get in the way of a successful Transition.
With many family businesses both spouses work in the business, but quite often it’s only one spouse who is active in the business. When it comes to businesses that are looking to Transition it’s typically Dad who is more active day-to-day vs. Mom, but that doesn’t mean Mom doesn’t have a lot of influence to either assist with the Transition or torpedo the whole thing. One of the biggest things is to not confuse Mom’s quietness or silence with her lack of interest in a topic or her agreement with an outcome. It might just mean she’s trying to give you more time to come to the right conclusion before sharing her thoughts. Whatever you do, don’t underestimate the Power of Mom when it comes to Transitions!
So if any of these items are things you recognize in yourself or your business, perhaps we should chat. If nothing else, we can give you some ideas for what to focus on next and maybe even provide answers to some of those Transition questions you’ve been wrestling with.
Case Studies / Testimonials
Lisa Holly
Lisa Holly of Berea Moving
- John & Terri Sonnhalter
Talked about Family Business Transition
- Brian Mauer
Talks about transition after taking over ownership